Psychiatrist thinks should be over PTSD

Recently my PTSD kicked in over events in my work life as well as financial stressors.

My psychiatrist asked me when the original events to trigger the PTSD happened. About 40 years ago.

He asked me when my father (the abuser) died. About 14 years ago.

He gave me the opinion that he thinks I should be over this.

Because I've had PTSD off and on (depending on the everyday life events that might trigger the symptoms), I generally was under the impression that one has PTSD, does not get rid of it, although the symptoms can abate and maybe be gone for a long time.

Asking for opinions regarding whether one is supposed to "get over" PTSD. The triggering events were an entire childhood of abuse by my dad, who was a well-respected professional (won't say which profession). Thus, I trust no professionals.

My Psychiatrist seems to think I should be over PTSD. Have had it off and on since 1975, when there are triggers.

It varies---some people get over it over a certain amount of time, others get over it in a longer or shorter period. it depends on the person, the situation, etc. One thing I am learning---no matter how long it takes, that does not mean that anything is wrong with ME.
PTSD can be so painful and many of us (and our friends/therapist/doctors/loved ones, etc) wish this would be over, but it often is not over when we all want it to be.

And triggers can very often bring on symptoms, even after we have been "over it" for a while.

Some of us don't get over it. But many of can learn to quiet our symptoms and live with it.

Just my take.

hang on... you are worth it.

Carol

I see you are in Toledo. if i remember right from my high school geography classes theres many different places in the USA and in other countries named Toledo...

on the chance that your location is someplace other than the USA...

here in my location (USA) PTSD is curable. it is a diagnostic label that includes many different things....think of it like mustard. Mustard is the label (PTSD) and vinegar, mustard seed, water are the ingredients (symptoms)

next step once the jar (mustard) is empty of the mixture of symptoms (vinegar, mustard seed, water) the mustard is gone.

here in America PTSD is a cover all label and inside it are symptoms of anxiety, depression, nightmares, flashbacks, depersonalization, derealization, ....

if for example a person is diagnosed PTSD because they have nightmares, and anxiety....when the nightmares stop and the anxiety stops or is under control the person no longer has PTSD.

heres an example from my life... I work in a job where from time to time I have to accompany victims of domestic violence to the ER. during one such event the situation turned into my being a witness to a domestic violence murder. I ended up taking time off work because Doing my job was causing me anxiety, I was having nightmares and flashbacks about the event. It took about 6 months of therapy and my wife teaching me about guns and how to shoot one at the range to get me past my fears, anxiety, nightmares, and flashbacks. but one day I did not have any flashbacks about the event, was sleeping through the night again, able to enter my work place and the ER again with out anxiety. my PTSD was gone.

thats not saying a person cant have PTSD from another traumatic event....

example when hurricane sandy hit my location and made my home unlivable my treatment provider diagnosed me with PTSD because I was having trouble sleeping, having nightmares of losing my new home, I was depressed because of all that I had lost that could not be replaced. I was anxious every time we had a storm with worrying whether the storm was going to develop into another life altering event. But over time with the help of medications my fears\anxiety stopped, I slept through the night and my depression related to hurricane sandy lifted. my PTSD was gone.

my point ...here in the USA yes PTSD is curable. for some people their PTSD symptoms naturally go away with time, others need help through therapy and medication. for some people they can get past their PTSD symptoms relatively soon, I have known some who bounce back after a month or so and others it may take many years.

Here in the USA PTSD doesnt have to be caused just by abuse. it can be caused by many different things. life is full of things that may affect a person to the point of having nightmares, flashbacks, anxiety, depression, ...(in other words what america calls PTSD)

I have found the best way for me to get through it any time I end up with PTSD is to breath and take it one event at a time. example when I had PTSD due to work related trauma I focused on healing from that with my treatment providers, when I had another PTSD causing event (hurricane sandy ) I focused my therapy and such on that.

my suggestion since you have PTSD from more than one traumatic event in your life pick the one that is the most affecting to you and focus your treatment on that or vise versa take care of the lesser affecting traumatic event first...my point maybe you are trying to take it all on at once, maybe taking a step back and giving yourself more narrowed down focus points rather than doing it all will get you where you want to be and where your treatment provider feels you should be at.

another suggestion...in some of the posts here on psych central you may find some posts where some people find working a structured type of therapy like working with workbooks designed for a specific problem helps to slow things down to where they can get the life lasting progress they are looking for.

talk with your treatment providers they will be able to help you to develop a treatment plan so that you can work through what ever your treatment provider feels is holding you stuck with your past traumas.

I too have suffered and struggled with PTSD symptoms for 33 years...I believe I will always outwardly show signs and remnants of the dreadful trauma I suffered...It changes who we were meant to be in so many ways....but I am continually working on modifying my reactions to the memories....I think this still means I have PTSD.

Thanks for the replies. Most of the abuse I endured was very traumatic, very personal, and caused by my parents who are medical professionals.

Thus, I really have a hard time with medical professionals and generally do not trust them at all, in part because being in the medical profession most of my life, I see that now it is all about money, just money and how much they can get out of you before they pronounce you cured.

My PTSD comes and goes based upon things within my immediate life. I do not constantly day in and day out suffer from it, but when it comes back the nightmares make life really difficult.

Also, because my PTSD was not caused by one specific event, but a combination and variety of events over a 10-12 year period, I think the amount of effort to get rid of it completely would equally make my life really difficult.

I still have to earn a living.

Jeanlit, do you only have PTSD? I believe it is curable right? So say you are in therapy five or six years child sexual abuse then you stop therapy all is well no, PTSD re-tested no symptoms...Sounds like your being forced out of therapy? Well, if that is what you are upset about then first I would consider it , have I healed enough? Is your therapy dependency warranted? Only you can make that decision, if you feel like you need to be in there then continue. I would ask them to stop the redundant testing , which sends a message that you might not need therapy anymore.....That sounds like it gives you anxiety in and of itself......Well in all your getting get understanding, so that things aren't lost in translations and assumptions

My opinion is that he is welcome to his opinion, which he can stuff where the sun don't shine

to you

I, too, have PTSD and am taking meds for it and they help a great deal. However I can be triggered by things like something I saw on tv one day. (It can also be triggered by many other things.) It sent me into a feeling of total helplessness and terror. I have undergone therapy at different points in my life. I can also get nightmares at time. I have traumas from childhood, teen years, 20s. I know I still have PTSD and I think we know when we have it and when we don't. I think you are the best judge of that. I am much older now and some people have suggested to me that I should be over the abuse and it left me feeling like they really didn't understand my illness or me.

It is my opinion that he should get over the word "should".

You know, just this last Tuesday, my therapist (who is a doctor) and I were discussing that so many folks get into the field of psychology to escape, hide from, or cover up their own mental illness. It's called a practice - not a perfect, for a reason. As everyone is different, there isn't a one size fits all answer for everyone. He "should" know this.

I suffered from horrible combat related PTSD and you know what? I'm over it. Does that make me strong?

I still suffer from a single idle comment from my mother when I was a child. Does that make me weak?

No and no.

Those of us who suffer from mental illness fight wars. Very few things I have less tolerance for than some pdoc playing armchair general talking about how 'this war should have been won by now'. Darn draft dodger.

Well, the psychiatrist is wrong and what he/she is saying is that he really is not an expert in PTSD and trauma work.

Trauma is something that one never forgets, trauma work is to help an individual process the trauma and slowly learn to manage the effects of a trauma.

It is understandable that you have certain things that trigger you, it's important that you give whatever the trigger is time to surface so you can identify what the trigger meant to you. It does sound like you have really gained on managing a lot of the trauma you have experienced and have been working and providing for yourself again. When a trigger does happen and you identify it, that means you can begin to slowly work on having thoughts that help that "still sensitive area" to gain a sense of personal calm inspite of whatever it was that triggered you.

You are correct, often professional's lack when it comes to respecting others and genuinely understanding "human nature". That can happen in the medical field as these individuals begin to develop their focus "away from" the patient towards just seeing each patient as another "number or task" and then just move onto the next patient as if these patients are merely objects. Often these individuals develop a disassociation from the different patients not even realizing they are doing so.

I don't know if there's actually a way to fully "get over" any form of traumatic experience. What happened was a part of your life, and unless you obtain some form of amnesia, that entire part of your past is just that -- it's your past. There is no running away from it. No amount of time will ever diminish what happened, and that's the worst kind of thing to think about.

But what's worse is someone you trust to handle your emotions, your mental health and wellbeing, telling you what you "should" be. To me, someone as trusted as a therapist should not be as judging. That's akin to parents telling their child they shouldn't be homosexual.

While everyone has a right to free speech, no one has the right to tell you what you should or should not be. If you hurt, then you hurt... There is no "should" or "shouldn't" in any of that. You are who you are, your past is your own, no matter how much it may hurt, no matter how many people don't understand.

And always remember: You can change who your therapist is. You and only you have that ability to speak up and say that you are no longer comfortable with them. If you feel this can be resolved, perhaps next session you could explain to your therapist how you feel about what they said. And last but not least, you're always accepted here with hugs and love and understanding!

It takes as long as it takes. That doesn't sound like a very good psychiatrist, in my honest opinion.

The cortisol hormones in salvia change during trauma and during flashblacks (decades later)... your "doc" should research some "science".

salvia divinorum?
that stuff... well- becareful...

i didnt think you could just get over ptsdt... i mean maybe different types... but i think c-ptsd is different...

Hi I do not think people can "get over" ptsd anymore than they decide to "catch" ptsd. I did not mean the green herb salvia in my post. I meant actual spit from the mouth has elevated levels of cortisol after trauma. I am sorry for the confusion. Some research suggests that high levels of cortisol at/near the time of the trauma are a predictor for which one of three people will develop ptsd; especially among women who were raped (strong corealation).

Maybe you mean saliva, instead of salvia?

I totally agree!!! what an idiot he is grrrrr

this makes me angry - what right does he say when you are to be healed? has he any idea about PTSD ? or has he just read about it in his books grrrr

there is no time frame for healing - you are "over" it grrr or past it when you are and no person who is not on the inside of it can tell you when or if you should be in that place

I guess this affects me because people have said it should be over for me - move on - mostly I have - but ten years down the track from one event and many many more years from the others - I can still get triggered and react - this we learn to deal with

I am quite literally boiling inside because I have seen people who have been told this and who have tried to just shut things down and it hasn't worked - I wont go further into that because it may trigger some

you heal when you heal - there is no time limit - no licence that says after 5, 10, 15 years you will be "fixed" if it happens it happens if it takes time it takes time

my T once said if only you could do a few things you would be so much better - I took that as - why are you so stupid? failure! - but it wasn't the right time for me to be able to do those things - I wasn't there yet

it is ok to be exactly where you are on your road to healing and to take the time you need -

I wish you well on your journey

P7 (sorry if I got on my soapbox but this made me mad grrr )

I am 44 years old. I was molested and raped by a male physician for 7 years of my childhood (ages 3-10). I don't believe the PTSD is something that you get over. If your therapist is telling you this--then it is time to find another who is supportive of you.

Are you a spiritual person? Have you considered searching for a therapist who has the same belief system as you? (If you are Catholic, then a Catholic therapist
--for example).

I have had nightmares about the Holocaust for 30 years. They began when I was 13 years old. Combined with the sexual abuse I endured as a child--I have chronic PTSD. No therapist could ever help me. About 3 years ago the Jewish community was reading one my blogs about my nightmares. They were able to connect me with a Rabbi who also has all of his degrees in Psychotherapy. He is the only person who has been able to stop my nightmares, and get my PTSD and anxiety attacks to slow down.

What I discovered, is that the spiritual component to my therapy was missing. No one understands me like he does. He would never tell me that I have survived my traumas long enough in life...that I now need to get over them--and should no longer have PTSD.

[quote=jeanlit;4905571My Psychiatrist seems to think I should be over PTSD. Have had it off and on since 1975, when there are triggers.[/quote]

The time it takes for PTSD to resolve depends a lot on how soon after the trauma(s) treatment is provided. The sooner, the better. The other factor is the competence of the therapist and therapy relationship, which determines the effectiveness of the treatment. And then there is whether or not the original conditions are still part of a person's life (something that happens when family members were the perpetrators).

In my case, I did not get any help early on, the abuse and violence continued into my 20's, I saw incompetent therapists, and recently (now decades later) had a family crisis that brought all the players back into my life. So basically, I am now dealing with this as though it just happened. If I were to see a pdco like yours, I would feel devastated and hopeless to be told I should have gotten over it.

If I were you, I would see someone else. PTSD does not have an expiration date. Resolution only comes with the right treatment (and, again--the sooner, the better).

Good luck to you.